Coaxial cables are widely used in the communications art. For example, in connection with subscription cable television service it is common practice to provide a network of coaxial cables over an extended area to carry the high frequency signal from the receiving station to the many individual decoders and TV receivers. Such a cable network may be carried under ground, but in many instances is an overhead service suspended from utility poles.
It is also common practice for the cable connection from the general network to the individual household, commonly called a drop wire, to be suspended overhead. Some device must be provided for anchoring the cable to the side of the house somewhere adjacent to where it enters the house for connection to the decoder and receiver. It is essential that whatever device is used for suspending the cable not damage either the insulation or the conductors, and it also is essential that the spacing between the core wire and the shielding peripheral braid not appreciably be disturbed. Some coaxial cables have a steel messenger wire molded into a lateral appendage of the insulation. Such messenger wire may be stripped from the insulation and wrapped around a hook or other support. However, this exposes this wire to rust and deterioration.
A wedging clamping device in a drop wire clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,909. A quite different wedging device for a dropwire is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,059.
Wedging clamping devices have been used in cable splicers in the nature of connecting conducting wires or cables together. These devices necessarily have been made of metal to effect the necessary conduction from one cable or wire to another. Patents showing such wedging clamps include Broske et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,944 and Mixon et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,167. Although such clamps were satisfactory for connecting conductors together, they would not be satisfactory for anchoring a coaxial cable since they are not shaped properly for this purpose and since the metal would deform the cable and alter its electrical characteristics.